I agree about the richness of this episode and it is spawning many reflections in me as librarian, perhaps vocationally a reader, what do I know... but it stimulated thoughts -
For instance, regarding Influence-Response-Inspiration and the common (at least American) apparent concern of being "original" (in my view an impoverished impossibility) or "novel" or "unique"... my own practice long has been to read stacks of genres/voices/styles/subjects/etc simultaneously of curated good-to-great things such that Mimicry or Imitation is impossible as the "cloudy choir" of good things forms a kind of dizzying pleroma or khora of non-limit possibilities to be drawn from whenever my own body works with the resistant materiality of language or sound, formings or hearings from within/without my embodiment and the surround. Just some thoughts. I suppose I'm always hoping the existing Inspires, Influences, and Co-Responds to whatever I am experiencing? *think co-respondence is deftly addressed in this interaction - may be of interest: https://youtu.be/gXq7QtH6g28?si=KbZ8MBRY3K33WOqm
I LOVED the multilogue around living material:resistant material... and cultural artefacts as preservable living internet for embodied engagement ALIVE. Which brought to mind the efforts to sing the inexpressible (in whatever medium) in relation to WHAT IS at any moment, and van Gogh's "the way to know God is to love many things."
Blessings to each of you and thank you for the openness, effort, and sharing you proffer us.
Thank you friend. This idea of Van Gogh's is mighty good and I feel it down through my bones through my DNA into my history and in front of me like gnats or raindrops- it's why I have regarded myself for a long while now as a sort of aesthetic ascetic hedonist, a bit of a glutton for certain experiences and disciplines: it is quite entertaining watching gluttony and discipline dance a waltz.
That cloudy choir - i love how you have approached "the stacks"- and I'm learning that for myself it is a good way to "read"- in fact how I've haltingly done it myself poorly and resistantly- seeing it as a failure or inability to do things properly etc. You are a good influence on me I think in taking permission to be as I am. And language- primordial WORD as THE resistant f$%&ing material!! God bless it
Such a rich episode - I'm all tied up in the discussion around the window casement and the interplay of the mechanics of poetry. And oof - you highlighted a perpetual problem of mine. How I can I create from a place untouched by influence?
Just today, I hovered a computer cursor over the “enroll” button for my first master’s class in creative writing. Will an MFA make my writing better/worthy or will it make is sound like everything else on the shelves?
David Jones has been a disruptor for me, too. In the best way. Thank you 🙏🏻
Influence is a tough question. I'm not sure we get to choose our influences. I see it as provisional. They have to come along at the right time. I have to be in a receptive state. My own work needs to be in a state of stasis or dormancy or maybe the early, sap-rising stage. But furthering education under masters isn't bad, necessarily. Jones went to two art schools and then fell in with Gil and the workshop of printmakers. My MFA program at the University of St. Thomas was really great, but I began when I was 40. I'm not sure what that would have looked like if I had entered that program (or even if that program could have existed) when I was 22. I was pretty set in my ways by 40 and had been writing semi-professionally for 18 years. The MFA program exposed me to a lot of Christian writing, especially in the Catholic tradition, that I would never have come across. And it was encouraging to see how these great writers of faith had interacted with their various cultures, most often from the margins. Also, I made some great friends whose encouragement I need to keep moving forward. It's impossible to do this alone, and some of those influences--even in relationship-- are necessary.
Thank you for taking the time to share your discerning thoughts. Your insights on the MFA are affirming, especially since I am a few years north of 50 and set in my ways (just ask Jack!) The three of you have directed me to some beautiful Christian artists/writers, and that has been so rich and valuable.
I also appreciated learning more about the education of Mr. Jones. My degree is in healthcare, and I couldn’t have imagined practicing clinically without the appropriate training. It’s where I’m at with writing now. Perhaps, I’ll be able to knock the impostor syndrome if I study the craft. That’s a topic for another day, I am sure!
Good luck with that imposter syndrome, let me know if you lick him, he's been giving me black eyes and stealing my milk money since pre-school.
Seems that we could to talk a lot more about this influence/ inspiration business. What emerges a little at the moment for me reading Michelle's wish to find a place to write that is untouched by "influence" (file away the word "Placebo" for a moment) that the influence in question is the maybe influence of influencers?- the techno-noise of a busy and greedy digital age that churns out content and rams it through our systems and out our asses before we can digest a bit of value from it so we remain hungry even as we are full? There is that kind of influence- which is still the in the air we breathe (like a micro plastic smog) even when we step away from it for while. What first drew me to Instagram, for example, was the real time exposure of my consciousness to the current work of other artists and craftspeople working around the world. It was a real creative window at that time- even if Scut Farkus was still lurking around the corner to kick my ass, it was worth the risk to encounter the good work my contemporaries were engaged in. The healthy competition of camaraderie could be at work. I like that kind of influence. I remember in art school walking through all the studio spaces of my classmates when the were empty and seeing what they were working on- it was like a tropical rainforest biology of art and ideas. One of my best and oldest friends- before we knew each other, we would sneak into one another's studios unbeknownst, and soak in the others work. We were really shy about it until we became friends. We still soak in the others work. We helped form each others work from the fountain head of our journeys. Who can tell?
I laughed out loud at Skut Farkus -it’s all fun and games y’know!
Then I soaked in the poetic imagery of artists sneaking into each others’ studios to immerse themselves. That’s how I feel when I read a beautiful passage in a book. Words that beg to be underlined and revered. I DO enjoy that type of influence. And you named what I was unable to lay a finger on - the digital influencers - though, I’m grateful for that platform, too for a multitude of reasons I’ve already jotted down in journals that don’t need spoken here.
PS - I am so thankful for the times you’ve welcomed Cody and I into your studio. Not gonna lie - it’s mere politeness that keeps me from exploring every corner of your reverent, Zen-like space. I would have been the shy student, too sneaking in before daylight to look at it all. And my clumsy ass would have knocked a thing or two over as well!
It seems like being in healthcare has within it the opportunity to go to the source (of nature) like Jones, and Jack, emphasized, which is no small thing, and probably helps to explain why you are able to capture nature so well (with your camera, for instance).
I agree about the richness of this episode and it is spawning many reflections in me as librarian, perhaps vocationally a reader, what do I know... but it stimulated thoughts -
For instance, regarding Influence-Response-Inspiration and the common (at least American) apparent concern of being "original" (in my view an impoverished impossibility) or "novel" or "unique"... my own practice long has been to read stacks of genres/voices/styles/subjects/etc simultaneously of curated good-to-great things such that Mimicry or Imitation is impossible as the "cloudy choir" of good things forms a kind of dizzying pleroma or khora of non-limit possibilities to be drawn from whenever my own body works with the resistant materiality of language or sound, formings or hearings from within/without my embodiment and the surround. Just some thoughts. I suppose I'm always hoping the existing Inspires, Influences, and Co-Responds to whatever I am experiencing? *think co-respondence is deftly addressed in this interaction - may be of interest: https://youtu.be/gXq7QtH6g28?si=KbZ8MBRY3K33WOqm
I LOVED the multilogue around living material:resistant material... and cultural artefacts as preservable living internet for embodied engagement ALIVE. Which brought to mind the efforts to sing the inexpressible (in whatever medium) in relation to WHAT IS at any moment, and van Gogh's "the way to know God is to love many things."
Blessings to each of you and thank you for the openness, effort, and sharing you proffer us.
Thank you friend. This idea of Van Gogh's is mighty good and I feel it down through my bones through my DNA into my history and in front of me like gnats or raindrops- it's why I have regarded myself for a long while now as a sort of aesthetic ascetic hedonist, a bit of a glutton for certain experiences and disciplines: it is quite entertaining watching gluttony and discipline dance a waltz.
That cloudy choir - i love how you have approached "the stacks"- and I'm learning that for myself it is a good way to "read"- in fact how I've haltingly done it myself poorly and resistantly- seeing it as a failure or inability to do things properly etc. You are a good influence on me I think in taking permission to be as I am. And language- primordial WORD as THE resistant f$%&ing material!! God bless it
Such a rich episode - I'm all tied up in the discussion around the window casement and the interplay of the mechanics of poetry. And oof - you highlighted a perpetual problem of mine. How I can I create from a place untouched by influence?
Just today, I hovered a computer cursor over the “enroll” button for my first master’s class in creative writing. Will an MFA make my writing better/worthy or will it make is sound like everything else on the shelves?
David Jones has been a disruptor for me, too. In the best way. Thank you 🙏🏻
Influence is a tough question. I'm not sure we get to choose our influences. I see it as provisional. They have to come along at the right time. I have to be in a receptive state. My own work needs to be in a state of stasis or dormancy or maybe the early, sap-rising stage. But furthering education under masters isn't bad, necessarily. Jones went to two art schools and then fell in with Gil and the workshop of printmakers. My MFA program at the University of St. Thomas was really great, but I began when I was 40. I'm not sure what that would have looked like if I had entered that program (or even if that program could have existed) when I was 22. I was pretty set in my ways by 40 and had been writing semi-professionally for 18 years. The MFA program exposed me to a lot of Christian writing, especially in the Catholic tradition, that I would never have come across. And it was encouraging to see how these great writers of faith had interacted with their various cultures, most often from the margins. Also, I made some great friends whose encouragement I need to keep moving forward. It's impossible to do this alone, and some of those influences--even in relationship-- are necessary.
Hi Seth,
Thank you for taking the time to share your discerning thoughts. Your insights on the MFA are affirming, especially since I am a few years north of 50 and set in my ways (just ask Jack!) The three of you have directed me to some beautiful Christian artists/writers, and that has been so rich and valuable.
I also appreciated learning more about the education of Mr. Jones. My degree is in healthcare, and I couldn’t have imagined practicing clinically without the appropriate training. It’s where I’m at with writing now. Perhaps, I’ll be able to knock the impostor syndrome if I study the craft. That’s a topic for another day, I am sure!
Thank you again!!
Good luck with that imposter syndrome, let me know if you lick him, he's been giving me black eyes and stealing my milk money since pre-school.
Seems that we could to talk a lot more about this influence/ inspiration business. What emerges a little at the moment for me reading Michelle's wish to find a place to write that is untouched by "influence" (file away the word "Placebo" for a moment) that the influence in question is the maybe influence of influencers?- the techno-noise of a busy and greedy digital age that churns out content and rams it through our systems and out our asses before we can digest a bit of value from it so we remain hungry even as we are full? There is that kind of influence- which is still the in the air we breathe (like a micro plastic smog) even when we step away from it for while. What first drew me to Instagram, for example, was the real time exposure of my consciousness to the current work of other artists and craftspeople working around the world. It was a real creative window at that time- even if Scut Farkus was still lurking around the corner to kick my ass, it was worth the risk to encounter the good work my contemporaries were engaged in. The healthy competition of camaraderie could be at work. I like that kind of influence. I remember in art school walking through all the studio spaces of my classmates when the were empty and seeing what they were working on- it was like a tropical rainforest biology of art and ideas. One of my best and oldest friends- before we knew each other, we would sneak into one another's studios unbeknownst, and soak in the others work. We were really shy about it until we became friends. We still soak in the others work. We helped form each others work from the fountain head of our journeys. Who can tell?
I laughed out loud at Skut Farkus -it’s all fun and games y’know!
Then I soaked in the poetic imagery of artists sneaking into each others’ studios to immerse themselves. That’s how I feel when I read a beautiful passage in a book. Words that beg to be underlined and revered. I DO enjoy that type of influence. And you named what I was unable to lay a finger on - the digital influencers - though, I’m grateful for that platform, too for a multitude of reasons I’ve already jotted down in journals that don’t need spoken here.
PS - I am so thankful for the times you’ve welcomed Cody and I into your studio. Not gonna lie - it’s mere politeness that keeps me from exploring every corner of your reverent, Zen-like space. I would have been the shy student, too sneaking in before daylight to look at it all. And my clumsy ass would have knocked a thing or two over as well!
It seems like being in healthcare has within it the opportunity to go to the source (of nature) like Jones, and Jack, emphasized, which is no small thing, and probably helps to explain why you are able to capture nature so well (with your camera, for instance).
You find the best analogies. Thank you 😊
You two are a beautiful part of my living internet- beautiful wrestlings & in-spire-ations 🙏🏼